2010

The Syrian Strike - A Sober, Measured Response

April 7, 2017 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org – As we noted rather forcefully yesterday , pre-president Trump’s launching of a Tomahawk missile attack against what intel sources claim to be the Syrian airfield from which the Sarin/chlorine gas attack that claimed dozens of lives in the city of Khan Sheikhoun, we were very concerned that the promised “response” might be akin to following down the rabbit hole, into which G.W. Bush disappeared.

Therefore we were quite relieved and actually very pleasantly surprised that the strike was so surgical and measured…proportional in diplomatic-speak.

At approximated 4 a.m. local Syrian time, the USS Porter (DDG-78) and USS Porter (DDG-71), both Arleigh Burke-class destroyers home ported in Spain, launched 59 Tomahawk missiles against the Shayrat air base, one of six under control of the Assad regime.

Now manufactured by Raytheon, the Tomahawk is a modular, subsonic guided missile that can carry a wide range of warheads up to an including nukes. In this role it has proven remarkably reliable as well as flexible.

The purpose of the raid was to destroy the ability of Shayrat to be used as a launch platform for aircraft carrying the type of prohibited chemical weapons which were according to the Pentagon, used in the Khan Sheikhoun attack.

From numerous sources we gather that there was solid SIGINT evidence [radar, infrared satellite imagery and other data gained through national technical means] presented to the president that positively ID’d the base as the source of the flight[s] and apparently also the storage area for the prohibited munitions.

In our opinion, such a commitment of American military force, under the circumstances seems entirely appropriate as well as being in keeping with Mr. Trump’s oft-repeated campaign promise that he will avoid unnecessary, open ended [and poorly executed] foreign acts of war…the implication here being Iraq.

As a matter of fact the nature of the attack was so precisely gauged to avoid potential collateral damage, especially the possibility of further releases of deadly nerve agents, that it was almost sterile.

As the world’s only true super-power it is our responsibility to act, militarily if necessary, to protect American interests. What we, and we trust the president agree on is if we find it necessary to do “the badass dance” against an enemy, that the commitment be appropriate to the threat and if American soldiers are a component of such action, that total, swift and unconditional victory be the only goal.

That it also sent a very powerful message to the Ayatollahs, the N. Korean dog-eaters and yes, Mr. Putin that the U.S. is back big-time, that they have nothing to fear as long as they behave themselves and in any regard had better not get in our way if they don’t want to get bent.

With this said and what with all of the spy vs. spy beneath the radar subterfuge that has been directed against the administration and Mr. Trump personally for well over a year, we continue to have questions as to the loyalty of America’s entirely too numerous intelligence agencies, including the FBI and we trust that the president will take that into account as his administration proceeds to enact the Make America Great Again agenda.